Sometimes people wonder
how a minister or teacher comes up with their sermons. I know some may
use a handbook of sorts for messages, or copy other sermons they have
heard. In any vocation, we pass on what we have been taught, as in the
case of doctors, lawyers, or any college educated professional. In the
end, an education is certainly required.

I would not want a surgeon
to work on me if he had not been through medical school, nor would I
want to be his first patient! So experience must be coupled with education,
thereby making the training complete.

As for myself, I have been
educated by great Bible teachers and still am; I have read, pondered,
and prayed over the Word of God on my own, and have had over 50 years
of living, experience, walking in the Word, and even contrary to it
at times. The bottom line is that I have purposed in my heart to know
God, and have desired to know Him in His fullness. When I find a truth,
I cannot wait to share it with the Body of Christ, but sometimes I have
to wait, because God has a time and season for each of us to learn
certain things. A 5th grader would be lost
in high school, because he is not prepared to advance that quickly.
The Bible says we must learn line upon line, precept upon precept, here
a little and there a little. Studying the Bible is like peeling
an onion or an artichoke, you absorb it in layers; it is a continuous
process. As we are enlightened, we apply and couple it with our own
life experiences, and just pass it on…so teachers are
“passer-oners”!

I feel now is the time that
the Church comes back to the basics of the New Testament teachings,
and it is time to pass on some truths I have learned. We all have heard
the quotes. “These are the times that try men’s souls” and another
appropriate saying, “You ain’t seen nothin’ yet”! Or even
“Cheer up…it’s gonna get worse”! I don’t mean to be negative,
but neither do I want to be an Ostrich and
“hide my head in the sand”. I don’t think anyone would disagree
that our country has “been through the mill” since 9/11. We have
been bombed, engaged in wars on 2 fronts, and are still dealing with
the aftermath of Katrina. Our country’s finances have been drained
with all these calamities, not to mention the special interests spending,
and the graft and greed and mishandling of the banking systems.

America is in trouble and
many say we are on our last leg. This may certainly be true, but God
has always kept His people, and will continue
to do so, so we have nothing to fear. However, we need to get back to
the Bible and learn how to stand in Jesus and especially how to pray.

Most of the Bible has been
written TO the Jews, FOR the Jews and BY the Jews. Even the New Testament
has a lot to say concerning Israel. Jesus especially spoke to His own
people about the last days in the 24th chapter
of Matthew.

After Jesus ascended to
Heaven, a Jewish-Roman Rabbi called Saul came along, persecuting this
new group called Christians in the Name of God. He was on the road to
Damascus, when Jesus appeared to him, changed his name to Paul, and
changed his life and ministry forever. Paul spent some time on the backside
of the Arabian desert where God Himself taught him His plans for the
future and called Paul as an Apostle to the Gentiles (Galatians 1:12,17).

Paul then wrote at least
13 of the 27 books of the New testament, yet 90% of
Christendom never reads any of his letters! Paul calls his doctrine,
“the Revelation of Mysteries”. Paul is the Apostle that taught us
salvation by Grace, rather than law, the Rapture of the Church, as well
as the function and gifts of the Holy Spirit, that Luke introduced in
the Book of Acts, on the Day of Pentecost.

Before His death, Jesus
told the disciples, that He was leaving and would send them a Comforter,
in John 14, 15, & 16.

After Jesus rose from the dead, He appeared for 40 days to many. On
the morning of the first day of His resurrection, Jesus appeared to
Mary Magdalene, and then told her to go tell His brethren
He was risen. John 20 tells us in the evening of the same day, Jesus
appeared to His disciples, who were hiding
for fear of the Jews. He breathed (same root word for spirit) on them
and said “Receive ye the Holy Ghost” (vs. 22).
This was salvation…they could not have been saved until Jesus conquered,
death, Hell and the grave. When we accept Jesus as the risen Son of
God, the Holy Spirit comes into our hearts and dwells within us…it
is a done deal.

When Jesus was about to
ascend to Heaven, He told his disciples in Acts 1:5, 8 to wait in Jerusalem
for the Holy Ghost to baptize them…that afterward they would have
power to preach the Gospel all over the world.
Acts 2:1-4 records the whole account, as it happened during the time
of the Jewish feast of Pentecost. Just
as Jesus said, they were “filled with the Holy Ghost, and spoke with
other tongues/glossolalia (Greek)/languages, as the SPIRIT gave them
utterance”.

John baptized with water
from the outside. The same Holy Spirit which the
disciples had received when Jesus breathed upon them, had now baptized
them from the inside. The first obvious evidence was the fact they could
speak in languages they had never learned! As John’s water baptism
rushed OVER them, the Holy Ghost’s baptism rushed OUT of them. The
Book of Acts reports that baptism in the Spirit was a key feature in
the early Christians’ experience.

There is the Pentecostal
denomination or Pentecostal Christians in various denominations. Both
refer to the outpouring of Acts 2. The first
group is a separate denomination, while the second
group is Christians who can be from any church affiliation but have
had the Pentecost experience. These Christians are also called Spirit-filled
Christians or Charismatics. The name comes from the Greek,
charismata, meaning “gifts”. Charismatics are scattered throughout
many denominations, including Catholics.

In 1Corinthians 12, 14,
and Romans 12:6-8, Paul lists and describes various
“spiritual gifts” Christians receive, including speaking in tongues.
Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13:1 there are tongues of men and tongues
of angels. This refers not only to all earthly languages, but whatever
language they use in Heaven. Farther down in Chapter 13 in verse 8,
Paul says there is coming a time when these gifts will cease. That will
occur at the end of the Church age. However, we are still in the Church
age, in the 3rd chapter of Revelation. The
Church age doesn’t end until the Church is taken out in Revelation
4:1.

Next month we will continue
this study in Part 2.

God Bless You All,

Pastor Moser
March, 2009

W. O. W. (Word
of Wisdom)

Study to show thyself approved
unto God, a workman that needs not to be ashamed, RIGHTLY dividing the
Word of Truth. (2 Timothy 2:15)

The Pastor's Desk

Re: Previous Website

The Home Place Mission had a former site and the time came where we had to switch web site hosts. Our email had to be changed as well. In transferring the articles over, every effort was made to correct any inferences to the old email address (the new one is on the home page). Also, all articles containing hyper links were needing updated too. Please forgive us if some things may have been overlooked. Because this page is in a blog format, the date we transferred each article over is what shows under the title when opened. The correct date each article was written is beside the title under the category column. We apologize for the blog format, as it is not as "user-friendly" as our old site but we do hope you find the articles encouraging and are blessed by the insights shared! Thank you for reading!